Ímar
Ímar (Old Norse: Ívarr [ˈiːˌwɑrː]; died c. 873) was a powerful Viking[nb 1] leader in Ireland and Scotland in the mid-late ninth century.
During the late 850s and early 860s, Ímar was involved in a protracted conflict with Máel Sechnaill, overking of the Southern Uí Néill and the most powerful ruler in Ireland.
Ímar allied successively with Cerball, King of Osraige and Áed Findliath, overking of the Northern Uí Néill against Máel Sechnaill.
In 870 the annals record that Dumbarton Rock, the chief fortress of the kingdom of Strathclyde, was successfully captured by Ímar and Amlaíb following a four-month-long siege.
[2] Excavations on the island of Unst in Shetland indicate that Scandinavian settlers had reached there perhaps as early as the mid-7th century[3] and from 793 onwards repeated raids by Vikings on the British Isles are recorded.
[16] According to Downham, "apart from these additions [of saga fragments], Irish chronicles are considered by scholars to be largely accurate records, albeit partisan in their presentation of events".
[22] Lochlann, originally Laithlinn or Lothlend, the land where Ímar's father was king, is often identified with Norway, but it is not universally accepted that it had such a meaning in early times.
[nb 5] Máel Sechnaill was the most powerful king in Ireland at the time and his lands lay close to the Viking settlement of Dublin.
[28] The fighting began in the previous year: "Great warfare between the heathens and Mael Sechnaill, supported by Norse-Irish" is reported by the Annals of Ulster.
[28] Early battles seem to have gone the way of the Vikings: Ímar and Amlaíb "inflicted a rout on Caitill the Fair and his Norse-Irish in the lands of Munster".
[33] In 858 Ímar, allied with Cerball, King of Ossory, routed a force of Norse-Irish at Araid Tíre (east of Lough Derg and the Shannon in modern-day County Tipperary).
At the beginning of his reign in the 840s, Cerball's allegiance was pledged to the over-king of Munster, but as that kingdom grew weaker Ossory's strategic location allowed opportunities for his advancement.
[36] The following year Amlaíb, Ímar and Cerball conducted a raid on Máel Sechnaill's heartlands in Meath,[nb 6] and in consequence a royal conference was held at Rathugh (modern-day County Westmeath).
[38] Following this meeting Cerball shed his allegiance to the Vikings and formally submitted to Máel Sechnaill in order to "make peace and amity between the men of Ireland".
[39] With their ally turned against them, Ímar and Amlaíb sought a new alliance with Áed Findliath, overking of the Northern Uí Néill, and rival of Máel Sechnaill.
[40] In 860 Máel Sechnaill and Cerball led a large army of men from Munster, Leinster, Connacht and the Southern Uí Néill into the lands of Áed Findliath near Armagh.
[44] Ímar and Amlaíb, now joined in Ireland by their younger brother Auisle, sought to make use of this change to extend their influence in the lands of the Southern Uí Néill.
[45] In 863 the three brothers raided Brega in alliance with Lorcán, and the following year Amlaíb drowned Conchobar at Clonard Abbey.
[46] Muirecán mac Diarmata, overking of the Uí Dúnchada, was killed by Vikings in 863, probably by Ímar and his kin trying to expand into Leinster.
Downham concludes he is identical to Ivar the Boneless, a Viking leader who was active in England during this period as a commander of the Great Heathen Army.
[53] According to the Fragmentary Annals Amlaíb returned to Lochlann that year to aid their father in a war, leaving Ímar to rule alone (Auisle had died in 867).
[nb 11][61] Later Norse tradition records Ingvar under the name of Ivar the Boneless, and calls him a son of the legendary Ragnar Lodbrok.
Woolf supports the connection between these two "Ivars" and writes of the Great Heathen Army that invaded East Anglia in 865 that "it is now generally agreed that they arrived in Britain directly from Ireland where Ívarr, the senior partner by 865, had been active for at least a decade".
[71] Downham agrees and goes a step further, suggesting that Dubgaill was applied "to followers the king of Laithlind (who had become a recurrent phenomenon for the chroniclers) as a convenient way of distinguishing them from the vikings who were already in Ireland".
[14] Smyth has suggested that Amlaíb can be identified with Olaf Geirstad-Alf, King of Vestfold, who was the son of Gudrød the Hunter and half-brother of Halfdan the Black, though speculation of this nature has not received much support.
Downham states "[Ímar's] descendants dominated the major seaports of Ireland and challenged the power of kings in Britain during the later ninth and tenth centuries".
[92] Viking power in Ireland was severely weakened by the Battle of Clontarf in 1014, and although Ímar's descendants maintained influence in and around the Irish sea region they did not have the strength they had had previously.
